The embodied experiences of dance movement psychotherapist practitioners working with clients living with medically unexplained symptoms (MUS)

Abstract

Background: Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) refers to a clinical presentation characterised by persistent bodily symptoms where no physiological cause has been identified. People living with MUS are more likely to have experienced trauma, and research emphasises that the therapist’s and client’s body must be involved in trauma therapy for effective clinical outcomes. Furthermore, research stresses the importance of improving the working relationship between practitioners and clients with MUS. Embodied practice is both a relational and trauma-informed therapeutic approach that is central to dance movement psychotherapy (DMP). Embodied practice holds that a therapist’s bodily sensations are a fundamental part of understanding the therapeutic process and protecting the therapist’s wellbeing.
Aims: This research aimed to investigate the embodied experiences of dance movement psychotherapist (DMP) practitioners, in the context of their work with clients living with MUS, and to explore how this informs the therapeutic process and affects their personal wellbeing in this context.
Method: Semi-structured interviews explored the lived embodied experience of six DMP practitioners who work with clients living with MUS. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to analyse the data, and this methodology was developed further using recent embodied methodological approaches.
Results: The DMP practitioners reported that their embodied experiences played a fundamental part in: making sense of unspoken client material; navigating experiences of not knowing; developing insight into relational dynamics; maintaining a responsive therapeutic stance; processing therapist’s feelings of physical pain or fatigue, as a potential somatic impact of the work; practicing embodied self-care for therapist and client.
Implications: Embodied practice can be integrated into practitioner training courses and services that provide care for clients living with MUS. Future research could focus on exploring the embodied experiences of other professionals who work with clients living with MUS, or who work with clients who present with specific MUS presentations, such as chronic fatigue syndrome.

Date of Award	11 Jun 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Roehampton
Supervisor	Savin Bapir-Tardy (Director of Studies), Beatrice Allegranti (Co-Supervisor) & Monique Proudlove (Co-Supervisor)